On Friday, President Obama prepared to put the squeeze on Iran’s international oil business as an oblique, but not ambiguous, means of pressuring Tehran about its nuclear program by laying the groundwork for more sanctions.

How much are American taxpayers paying for the nation’s imperial wars? No one seems to know. But the following article contains a few key figures we would expect to find on the manifest aboard America’s sinking ship of war.

Tom Engelhardt, a fellow at The Nation Institute and creator and editor of TomDispatch.com, takes a close accounting of President Obama’s Afghanistan speech delivered in late June, in which Americans were told that this year the U.S. would begin winding down its war in that country. (more)

The Obama administration is working on cutting back defense spending to levels the U.S. hasn’t seen since before Sept. 11, 2001, but the proposed changes have more to do with economic reasons than any big strategic change from within military ranks.

Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option—even the version with the “trigger” compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe—because it might cost money.

Although some in Congress applauded Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ announcement that the Obama administration would be whittling down the defense budget for 2010, suffice it to say that not everyone is thrilled by this development—especially those whose districts will be directly impacted by the cuts.

The U.S. budget is bleeding red ink by the buckets. So even as we take on deficits and debts, we should look for places to trim the budget. The incoming administration should start by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year and by putting the ax to the most sacred of sacred cows in the federal budget: the Department of Defense.

There has been much moaning, air-sucking and outrage about the U.S. government’s $700-billion bailout deal, but in fact we dole out similar amounts of money every year in the form of payoffs to the armed services, the military-industrial complex, and powerful senators and representatives allied with the Pentagon.